My wife and I have been blessed with 3 wonderful boys. Hayden (8), Carson (6) & Harrison (2). We have now found out that we are being blessed (depending on who and when you ask) with now a 4th boy (name undecided, which is a different story) who is due to be born on May 8, 2011 – Mother’s Day.
Honestly, my wife and I were hoping and praying for a girl. My wife has always wanted a girl and honestly, I wanted to have a daughter. We both felt led by the Spirit in all things involved in this 4th child and had hoped that this would be our girl. I mean come on, surely God wouldn’t deprive a loving Christian couple of a baby girl?! But as we all know, God has His plans for our lives that are sometimes different than our plans.
It’s a running joke around our family that our family is cursed to have boys. I have 4 brothers, and now will have 4 sons. In fact, down my family blood line, if you remove the 1 girl cousin that was conceived via IVF (so basing this stat on the “regular” method of conception), my boys are numbers 9, 10, 11 & now 12 straight down the family line!
With all of this, I have spent the last 24 hours praying and asking God for guidance and a little insight into why he said “no” to the prayer request for a girl. We know God can say no, but when it happens on something we care so dearly about, it opens up the door for doubt inside of us. Some will say that questioning God is wrong but I think it depends on the reasoning behind the question. For me, my “why” was out of a request for clarity on His plan. I love having boys and I am looking forward to meeting our 4th boy. I just wanted a glimpse into why God chose to give us 4 boys instead of 3 and 1 girl.
I received my answer last night.
“To raise Men”.
I thought back to the whole purpose originally behind this blog. Originally, this blog was about trying to help get men to become Men of God rather than men of the world. I have always held to the statement that men are what is wrong with this world today. Men can either lead or destroy their homes. Some people might find that statement sexist, and by the world view, it might be. In the reality of the light of God though, men are called to lead their homes and men are put into the position of authority by God (this is by no way demeaning to a Christian woman and in no way is meant to degrade women as a whole or singularly as their role in a Christian family is equally of importance).
Statistically, there are more women who attend church then men. There are also more married women who attend church when their husband does not than the other way around. These are what a friend of mine recently referred to as the “spiritually single married women”.
Basically, this screams to the fact that men are falling down on the job. How can a family be guided without the father doing his role? So if the problem is men, the only solution can be God using Men.
Boys 2 Men
God has given me a 4th boy with the mandate of raising all 4 of them to be Godly Men who will marry Godly Women and from my 4 boys, bring 4 Christ centered families on to this world that so desperately needs it.
How about you? Have you ever asked God for the purpose He has intended by putting your children into your life?
Psalms 127:3-5 (HCSB)
3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord,
children, a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons born in one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them.
Such men will never be put to shame
when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.